On 2012-01-20 00:51:37 +0000, Charles said:

In article , Stewart
wrote:

In to-days daily Telegraph it is reported that after the sinking of the SS
Lakonia in 1963 many of the passengers rescued from the sea were wearing
lifejackets but had suffered from broken necks.
We were on a cruise ship in 2011 and the crew showed us how to wear the
jacket. I pointed out to the officer that with the neck support untied as
they instructed my neck would break if I had to jump from the ship into the
sea. I was told you will never need to jump nevertheless my wife and I both
tied the back collar of the jacked firmly down our backs with the strap
attached; this would stop the collar jumping up and hitting the back of my
neck - like whiplash in a car accident.
I think that many of the ships crews are not aware of this risk and of
course passengers do not understand what can happen when you jump into the
water wearing a lifejacket.

Diving into the water with a lifejacket should be a last resort. What
you want to do is be in a lifeboat that is lowered or climb down a
ladder into a life raft or climb down into the water. Jumping in from a
height there are going to be injuries because that is physics. Of
course one has to do what one has to do if there is no alternative. The
Lakonia was on fire and like this event the evacuation delayed. The
major problem is that you can evacuate a ship relatively fast but the
need to evacuate is misjudged. The crew or Captain seem to go into
denial that it needs to be done. According to reports the evacuation of
Concordia was delayed almost an hour. Likely it was thought by some
crew members the ship could not sink. That is why any mindset that
ships are unsinkable needs to be banished.

If you MUST JUMP (never dive) from any height into the water with a
life jacket on cross your arms and hold on very tightly to the top of
your life lacket. Doing so accomplishes two important things; 1) it
keeps your arms close to your side and can prevent injury to them when
hitting the water, and 2) it keeps your life jacket from slamming up
under your chin and causing injury to your neck.

____________________________
Chief Petty Officer USN 1951-1973 ♐